Datasheet

c01_1 07/08/2008 34

The following is a partial yet representative overview of common SOA

governance mistakes we have seen in the short time SOA governance has

been top of mind for IT executives. See if your organization is guilty of any

of these approaches.

Buying a Tool versus Implementing Robust Processes. As described

above, this SOA governance mistake is very common. Many organiza-

tions believe that they address SOA governance by implementing soft-

ware tools before deﬁning processes, policies, and organizational

models to support their SOA governance requirements. Many organiza-

tions, for example, have acquired service registries, metadata reposito-

ries, and other related software tools in anticipation of meeting all of

their SOA governance challenges. However, very quickly these organi-

zations realize that they are only able to govern a small segment of their

SOA policies—the technical policies for services design and run-time

governance for security for example. The point is that many of these

policies can be automated using tools and technologies. However, the

large preponderance of SOA policies are business and process policies

for conformance to architecture, reuse, and other decision-making

processes. In other words, many business, process, and conformance

policies cannot be automated very easily, and these are the critical as-

pects of SOA governance that must be managed for success. Tooling

can of course facilitate these SOA governance processes, but tooling

cannot replace them. This SOA governance mistake results from en-

trusting software vendors too much, or from engaging opportunistic

consulting ﬁrms for SOA governance when they do not have the in-

sights or credentials to implement SOA governance.

Mistaking Governance Boards for SOA Governance. Another common

mistake we see is mistaking the implementation of governance boards

for the implementation of SOA governance. Certainly governance

boards will most likely be necessary to provide a means for stakeholder

participation in SOA governance key decision-making processes, but do

not assume that governance boards are effective in their governance.

SOA governance is more than an organizational model. SOA gover-

nance requires policies, processes, alignment to strategy and goals, and

metrics to help monitor progress and performance. Governance boards,

then, are one of multiple governance mechanisms that will be used to

implement SOA governance. They are one of the tools in your SOA

governance tool box, but not the only one and perhaps in some ways

not the most critical. This mistake is also a common result of entrusting

your SOA governance model to consulting ﬁrms that do not have the

skills or experience to develop and implement SOA governance.

34 THE SOA GOVERNANCE IMPERATIVE